July 2017 — Chanel Nestor graduated from NC A&T with a B.A. in Sociology and a M.A. in Agricultural Education. Her interests in agriculture began well before her undergraduate work, when she was exposed to small-scale beef production as a child growing up in Davidson County, NC. She continued dabbling in this interest with her church, which has a food pantry and community garden, and then in graduate school became involved with a mobile food pantry and multiple community garden efforts. Her apprenticeship placement with Piedmont Triad Regional Council was a perfect fit, because she has been interested in regional planning since her undergraduate days, and has a particular interest in community development. She says that working with the PTRC is “perfect to understand how regional planning plays into the food system.”
This summer Chanel is doing foundational work to develop a regional food council in the Triad, by completing a baseline assessment of the regional food system and assessing each county’s agricultural economy. PTRC has been one of the most active Councils of Government in the state in the area of food and agriculture, and recently began hosting NCGT’s Local Food Infrastructure map, which it will maintain after the NCGT project sunsets in 2018.
Chanel has been busy making connections and building
relationships with many community stakeholders, whether they are planners, cooperative extension agents, elected officials, or community members. Chanel most enjoys going out on field visits and learning about unique aspects of the Triad food system.
She says of her time with PTRC, “I am very grateful, and it’s exposed me to food systems from a regional perspective. It’s opening me up for even more opportunities to work within food systems.”
This article originally appeared in the June/July 2017 NC Growing Together Newsletter.